Isabelle was awarded
patent number 884,611 on April 14, 1908, for her pin fastener. Below is a copy of the patent with an
illustration and description of her invention (click on each page for a larger view).

What I learned from the patent

Since Isabelle invented a way to easily accessorize women's clothing, I can guess that she was interested in fashion and probably also in convenience and time-savers (or rather, frustration-savers--if you've ever tried to pin a bow on a dress and have it hang straight, you'll know what I mean). I'm all for anything that saves me even just a few seconds!

Had I not already
known who she married and when, I would have found out on this patent that her
married name was Shill and she married sometime between May 16, 1904 (when she applied for the patent under her maiden name), and April
14, 1908 (when she was awarded the patent under her married name). (She married Frederick Lyndale Shill in 1905.[1])

According to the
patent, she lived in Swarthmore, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, when the patent
was filed. I've always assumed she lived
in Philadelphia because my grandfather told my grandmother in his letters that's
where he would go to visit his sisters.
I looked up Swarthmore to see where it's located and found that it's not that far from Philadelphia--about 10
miles or so (click on the map below for a larger view). Here's Swarthmore's website about their history http://www.swarthmorepa.org/about/history.asp.

Location
of Swarthmore in relation to Philadelphia (aerial from Google Earth)

I emailed the patent to one of
Isabelle's grandsons and asked him if he
knew that his grandmother was an inventor!
It was news to him, too. I
wondered if she ever had any of these pin fasteners manufactured, but I guess
we'll never know. It was fun finding out there is a female inventor in my family!